The Salad Days of Summer

It was gray and dreary-looking all day on Thursday. It would have been perfect had it been cold, but it was warm so it was odd.

I swung by Westborn on the way home at lunchtime and bought a green pepper, three Italian (plum) tomatoes and a box of Rotini pasta. I had this idea to make a big pasta salad that I could munch on over the weekend and not have to worry about making dinners.

Neck update: I did get more sleep last night, but the morning shower didn’t do as much good as it did Wednesday morning (I don’t know why). I still have to turn my entire upper body to look behind me without pain, so it makes changing lanes on the freeway a bit challenging.

Once home and after treating the cats, I started the water boiling for the pasta (I need it to cool enough to eat dinner tonight). I peeled and diced up the two cucumbers my neighbor gave me. I diced up two celery stalks and added them to the big bowl. I stuck the pasta in the boiling water and then seeded and diced the two Italian tomatoes. I also diced the green pepper and shredded a peeled carrot.

I can’t explain the carrot, other than I thought it still needed something else. I wish I’d bought some cauliflower or broccoli I could have cut into small florets, but I didn’t think of it at the time.

I added a drained can of sliced black olives to the bowl. When the pasta was done, I dumped it in the colander but didn’t rinse it (I want the dressing to “stick” to it). Then I made the dressing. It was a take on Italian dressing with three parts extra virgin olive oil and one part white vinegar (I was afraid balsamic vinegar would take over the flavor and I didn’t have any lemons). To that I added fresh oregano and thyme and dried parsley, sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

I put the warm pasta in the bowl and dressed the salad. I let it sit and cool for a bit while I finished washing the counter top. I put everything I’d taken off the other side back (after wiping each item down) and then moved the items from this side of the counter to the clean side. I made up my Pine Sol and hot water mix in the sink (which is why I made the pasta salad first) and then washed down the counter top, backsplash and most of the stove (I’ll do the drip pans over the weekend). Then I quit.

I made up a small tasting bowl of the pasta salad and checked it out. Hmmm... not bad but definitely under-seasoned. So, I added more salt and pepper to the big bowl and plated some up. I still ended up adding more salt, but it was pretty good.

I watched a movie until 10:30 PM and then went to bed.